Sunday, March 6, 2011

Pour Yourself into Someone Else

I had a birthday recently. Funny to think about it this way, but they are important. With each anniversary of your birth you get another chance to make a difference on “the third rock from the sun” in somebodies life. Hope you learned something in the last year, rather it was good or bad. I learned so much in the last twelve months that I cannot get my minds cupboards closed. Rather than let the lessons I learned lie dormant until forgotten, I need to pass them on. I need to “pour” those lessoned learned into someone. My desire as I experience birth anniversary’s is to be able to relate my joy and pain to another brother or sister that cannot “fathom” their success but will willing embrace their failures as their normal. “It don’t have to be so.”

A couple of weeks ago Janet and Lauren trusted me to watch Lyric, my 2 month old granddaughter for a couple of hours (thank God it was not more) as they shopped. As she rocked in the swing (greatest invention in the world), I could not take my eyes off of her. Her little eyes pierced my heart and captured my soul. In an instant I knew what was required of me. Outside of spoiling her, I need to let her know of all that have come before her and what they had planned for her without ever even knowing her name. The struggles and triumphs they endured were not just for a moment but for generations to follow. If you still having birth anniversaries (the assumption is that you are) you should pure some of the experiences that helped you make it from one year to another into someone else. I have been a few places and seen a few things. I have cringed from the pain of a few cuts and bruises that life can bring. I have also smiled and laughed from the joy that only grace can bring. I know this describes you as well. There is a Lyric in your life that needs to know how and why. My pastor instructed us to look for the teachable moment in every day. Pour yourself into someone else.

On a recent date night, Janet and I as usual talked about everything we missed during the week and then some. Afterwards on the way home there was a quiet moment in the car. Because she knows my heart and mind and the “lyrics” in this song, she turned the volume up when this song came on the radio….

If I could
I'd protect you from the sadness in your eyes
Give you courage in a world of compromise
Yes, I would

If I could
I would teach you all the things I've never learned
And I'd help you cross the bridges that I've burned
Yes, I would

If I could
I would try to shield your innocence from time
But the part of life I gave you isn't mine
I'll watch you grow, so I can let you go

If I could
I would help you make it through the hungry years
But I know that I can never cry your tears, babe
But I would if I could

If I could
In a time and place where you don't wanna be
You don't have to walk along this road with me
My yesterday won't have to be your way

If I knew
I'd try to change the world I brought you to
Now there isn't much more that I can do
But I would if I could

If I could
I would try to shield your innocence from time
But the part of life I gave you isn't mine
I'll watch you grow, so I can let you go

If I could
I'd help you make it through the hungry years
But I know that I can never cry your tears
But I would if I could

What would you do for your “Lyric”?

If you could…..

Working my way back.. Almost there.. I'm back

I feel like I am back.

In old cartoons or graphics, the coming New Year was always represented by a baby in a top hat and diaper, while the Old Year was represented by an old man leaving the room. I would like that old man to stay in the room for a minute or maybe two. A new year inherently makes us optimistic and implies that we have a fresh start. I will admit it is a standard line of thinking for me and plants a "new" perception in my mind. However, the perception may not be reality. The New Year baby does not clean your plate for you. My take is the New Year tends to just spin my plate around and I begin eating from the other side. The problem "meal" still has to be consumed. I tend to change the "angle of the cut" from the other side of the plate. I try slicing it differently hoping it will chew easier or taste better.

"The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem." - Theodore Rubin

I need the old year to sit down and review where I went wrong and were I went right. Don't leave just yet. Did I too often bemoan my failures and languish in the aftermath? The "Old Years", like old folks are treated as elderly burdens as opposed to being treated as "elders", influential members of a tribe or a community that can oddly enough reveal a few apparent truths. I took a moment to think about the lessons learned in 2010 and the bruises that only "holy" mercurochrome could heal. The old year explained that “He was preparing me for something I would not be able to handle” otherwise.

"When we see ourselves in a situation which must be endured and gone through, it is best to make up our minds to it, meet it with firmness, and accommodate everything to it in the best way practicable. This lessens the evil, while fretting and fuming only serves to increase your own torments." -- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President

There are times when we are thrust into situations that cannot be avoided. The "situation must be endured". The trick is to realize that it is a must and not a maybe. Character and discernment will help you decide and decide you must. If it is unavoidable, give it the resources that are needed (mind and body) to complete it. The process will allow you to grow. Fretting and fuming only makes your valley walk longer and more complicated and it ultimately stifles positive energy and mountain climbing strength.

At times 2010 felt like a valley walk for me. I know believe it was a walk of preparation for me not only in the New Year, but maybe years to come. I came out and “I don’t look like what I been through”…

Take a moment with the “old man”. The “elder years” may offer truths for the New Year(s) to come…